place, made answer: "A wonderful deficit, my Lord Earl, this
that thou mentionest! King Edward gave to St. Edmund that entire
Hundred, and confirmed the same with his Charter; nor is there
any mention there of those five shillings. It will behove thee
to say, for what service, or on what ground, thou exactest those
five shillings." Whereupon the Earl, consulting with his
followers, replied, That he had to carry the Banner of St. Edmund
in war-time, and for this duty the five shillings were his. To
which the Abbot: "Certainly, it seems inglorious, if so great a
man, Earl of Clare no less, receive so small a gift for such a
service. To the Abbot of St. Edmund's it is no unbearable burden
to give five shillings. But Roger Earl Bigot holds himself duly
seised, and asserts that he by such seisin has the office of
carrying St. Edmund's Banner; and he did carry it when the Earl
of Leicester and his Flemings were beaten at Fornham. Then again
Thomas de Mendham says that the right is his. When you have made
out with one another, that this right is thine, come then and
claim the five shillings, and I will promptly pay them!"
Whereupon the Earl said, He would speak with Earl Roger his
relative; and so the matter _cepit dilationem,'_ and lies
undecided to the end of the world. Abbot Samson answers by word
or act, in this or the like pregnant manner, having justice on
his side, innumerable persons: Pope's Legates, King's Viscounts,
Canterbury Archbishops, Cellarers, _Sochemanni;_--and leaves many
a solecism extinguished.

On the whole, however, it is and remains sore work. 'One time,
during my chaplaincy, I ventured to say to him: _"Domane,_ I
heard thee, this night after matins, wakeful, and sighing deeply,
_valde suspirantem,_ contrary to thy usual wont." He answered: